Artigos de Folk & Wild

Here’s the second volume of the Contrabando saga. This one was produced for Delta, the most important coffee production company in Portugal. The game now focus on coffee smuggling in the area of Campo Maior, near Badajoz – Spain during the late 50’s. Like in the first one, I did interviews with local ex-smugglers and border officers to understand the local context and adapt the base game to it. In the new one, a clock system was introduced, as well as new actionLer mais

The Côa Museum and Côa Park, hosts a World Heritage Site comprised of thousands of Pre-Historic open air rock art engravings. Apart from this amazing art collection, the museum itself is a pretty interesting architectural piece located in a beautiful setting overlooking the river Douro and its vineyards and the river Côa, the epicenter of the engravings. The access corridor feels like a descent into the underworld, like a chambered cairn’s corridor, it is a wonderful architectural sensorial experience before one entersLer mais

Here’s my first published board game. It’s an adventure game based on ethnographic research about smuggling on the eastern border of Northern Portugal, during Salazar’s dictatorship. Night is falling. Amidst the silence and shadows of the villages, men and women leave their homes with suspicious bags. Walking for hours and hours, they cross mounts and valleys, smuggling merchandise to Spain. But the portuguese border force officers know the paths and are always on the lookout for the nightly adventurers. This game,Ler mais

Miranda do Douro is a council on the top northeast of Portugal. In the Miranda plateau, away from the urban west, way after the mountain ranges that divide Trás-os-Montes from Minho, an old language still lives, a mix of Portuguese and Lionese, amongst bagpipes and ritual war dances. Here’s some info about it on wikipedia. I’ve designed 5 audio pieces for the local museum. Here are 3 of them: Ler mais

Available for free on the ibookstore in English, Portuguese and Spanish. This is an ibook I’ve produced about the Côa region. It’s 80 pages filled with videos, audio recordings, interactive media and tons of great photos about the history, nature and ethnography of the region.Ler mais

Hi, Here’s one of my latest projects! Soon I’ll post an ibook filled with videos, sounds and other goodies! This video was created for the Interpretive Center of Numão – Foz Coa, Portugal. It presents some of the memories, folktales and customs that the people of Numão have about their Castle. As an interpretive artifact, this video is only fully appreciated within the context of the exhibition’s narrative. Ler mais

The doc Mó won the award for best short film/ documentary at the Côa Criativo Awards, organized by the 10 municipalities of the Côa area, in Portugal. Take a time to see the film and discover the region here! Cheers to everyone who worked on the project!!! If you want to buy the book, contact me!! Ler mais

photo by Joana Bourgard I just got back from the 180 Creative Camp. A extraordinary week of art and fun. Take a look at the videos bellow and also discover the work of the amazing artists I had the privilege to meet and work with: Florentijn Hoffman, Madalena Martins, Boris Hoppek, Daniel Brereton, AkaCorleone, Enrique Pacheco, Atelier da Bouça… [vimeo 70276827] [vimeo 70276828]Ler mais

I was one of the 30 nominees for the HKU Award 2012, a prize that distinguishes the most interesting students among the 3000 of the HKU (Utrecht School of the Arts)! Be inspired by the amazing profiles of HKU students in the areas of Design, Music, Games, Video, Interaction, Theatre and so on! Link to the General page and to my personal page Translation from Dutch: Hugo has made ​​an interesting combination of music design and cultural heritage. This approach is particularly reflected inLer mais

I went to the UK to attended a course on wildlife sound recording with one of the most important sound recordists of the world Chris Watson, and also the ingenious Jez Riley French at the Wildeye Film School. Everyone interested in this field should experience this weekend! My goal is to start recording wildlife in Portuguese Natural Parks! Here’s a recording I’ve done with Jez Riley’s hydrophones buried in the sand, close to hundreds of seals, down Horsey beach, Norfolk, UK… USE YOUR HEADPHONES!Ler mais

Last month a new book and a new documentary came to life on the amazing world of old water mills and their inhabitants. I’m the author of half of the book, where I focused on the narratives and memories of the old millers. This same line was followed in the documentary which I co-edited with Gonçalo Mota. The book is available through the DRCN Porto – geral@culturanorte.pt . Mind that the book is in Portuguese! Ler mais

Talking about reports… I’ve just remembered that there is this one, from the Natural and Cultural Values project for the Naturtejo Geopark. This was a project organized by the University of California – Berkeley, in 2011. Here’s the report.Ler mais

Yesterday I’ve delivered the report from a research project on the Upper Douro’s region water mills. A book will come out… soon! This was a short project commissioned by the Direcção Regional de Cultura do Norte. I’ve coordinated the research, wrote the report and filmed some interviews… While the results are not public here’s an illustration of an abandoned mill, by Filipa Santos, and a photo of a chill-out moment by the river. Ler mais

So I’m here to say that the Master of Music Design at HKU is finished! Here’s an excerpt from the committee evaluation letter: “Apart from this impressive portfolio, the committee is also both enthusiastic and impressed by Hugo’s approah to his work. His music and sounds are based on strong concepts and always reflect his background and his personal artistic agenda. Building bridges between anthropology and the modern world using music, sound and technology is a new and promising approach.”Ler mais

Photo by José Machado Just out of the oven… the spot for the Teatro e Marionetas de Mandragora child’s play “O gato preto e a gaivota cor de prata”. Music and camera are mine, edition with Filipa Santos. Ler mais

Anomaly is Niels Medemblik & Rik schutte VFX (Video Special Effects) BA graduation project, I worked on it as composer and sound designer… Four young students decide to investigate the flora and fauna in Chernobyl’s ‘Exclusion Zone’, an abandoned area since 1986… after weeks of research and preparations, the group is ready to enter the ‘Zone’. Ler mais

After the University of Utrecht, for which I worked during the past year on the Profacity webdocumentary, had been apointed as the best University in the Netherlands and 8th in Europe, now at the beginning of my final year at the Master in Music Design at HKU, more great news: my faculty (Music & Technology) has been chosen as the ‘best Music School in the Netherlands’.Ler mais

This soundtrack was one of the three nominees for this movie at the Unheard Film Festival 2011! Great uh?! I choosed this movie for its theme and beauty. I tried to create a nostalgic and organic atmosphere, punctuated by magic, discovery, playfulness, sleepiness and a great sense of freedom towards the finale. In a way its a tribute to times we now see as static heritage from the past. Well they are not, they have great value for our sustainability!Ler mais

Ana Lopez and I worked on two musics for a documentary on foreign artists living in the Netherlands. The doc will premiere in April in Amsterdam… I’m one of the artists…. Here is the website of the film!Ler mais

TEASER! ANOMALY web site This is a horror short movie about a recent exploration of Chernobyl’s exclusion zone. It’s the graduation project of Rik Schutte & Niels Medemblik from HKU. My task is to put your ears shivering… for that I have two clear concepts… but that I’ll share with all of you later. Ler mais

Last saturday, at the Le Guess Who festival in Utrecht, I built the pretty thing you can see at the picture bellow. Called Home Swinger (weird but logical) was developed by Yuri Landman, who guided us during the 4h30m it took to do it! Ler mais

First composition project for the Master of Music Design. This project was a collaboration between me (concepts and composition) with Ana Lopez (composition) and Sotos Bakas (production) for the SoundtrackCologne festival. It was really wonderfull to work with them! and we did it in a week… Ler mais

Well, here I am in the Netherlands… after the hostel, the B&B, wandering around looking for a house, unpacking, assembling furniture, decorating and dutch bureaucracy… I’m finally settled in… Care for a bike ride to Anna’s Hoeve? During September the MMus is the phase where I develop my study plan for the next two years. The 4th of October will be the real start with the first artist in residence. Some of the instruments are already lining up for it… Ler mais

If there was a place in the world i dreamed to grow old in, living on a wood house with a white beard and a green smile on my heart, was on the southern slope of the Peneda mountain in the National Natural Park of Gerês. It’s a hauntingly beautiful place still with presence of the European original Flora, small creeks everywhere, a place that filled me inside – body and spirit… Like the rest of the country in this strangeLer mais

Last week there was the IFSA congress in Vienna with a presentation of a reflection and research I did concerning the development of the cultural and natural heritage . The final paper was written with my teacher Álvaro Campelo. The table was on “Landscape and tourism: New models and practices for the relation with the rural world” and the title of the presentation was: Rural world, wild spaces: narratives of the fantastic worlds in the appropriation and interpretation of theLer mais

This year I’ll join again the nomadic “Trupe de Bonifrates” on their appearance on the lands of His Majesty, during the Santa Maria da Feira’s “medieval journey”… If you are around just come dance and drink with us! If you’re in another realm you can take a look here… Last years appearance can be seen here… Ler mais

Ye hey! This year I will be a master degree student at HKU! This is the largest art university in the Netherlands, in my beloved city of Utrecht! I will be studying and practicing Music and Sound Design with a focus on Heritage Design where I will be able to use my Anthropological background too. I’ve just made a trip to the Netherlands and met the Rector of the Faculty of Music and the coordinator of the Intercultural Design program! It wasLer mais

(Photo by Carlos Teles) Also today was the first meeting on the new project of the Companhia de Teatro e Marionetas de Mandrágora – “F.U.N.I.L” (link with text in portuguese). I’ll be in charge of the sound and music for this short on words but heavy on sounds theatre play. Also very happy to see their new office/workshop! Puppet sketch for the play by enVide neFelibata Check out enVide Nefelibata’s blog for more great drawings and pupets!Ler mais

The TRESEGY documentary has just been published in DVD in Italy! Click here to see the release and order page :) This is the “In between – nine takes from the european scene” film, for which I directed and composed music for one episode (Porto) and filmed other three episodes (Lisbon, Madrid and Utrecht). Ler mais